Bellator’s Season Six finally comes to a close as spring shifts into summer this Saturday at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. As usual, Bellator will be televised on MTV2 at 8 p.m. (ET), and Spike.com will be streaming the show live and commercial-free starting at 7 p.m. Season Six will not see the bantamweight tournament end with a title and instead closes with a featured semifinal matchup between Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura (15-5-4) and Luis Nogueira (13-2). Both fighters are coming off unimpressive performances earlier this season, with Nogueira earning a decision against Alexis Vila in a mostly lackluster stand up affair and Nakamura holding down Rodrigo Lima for much of their matchup. Bantamweights are always ready to put on a show, but it seems like these two are making their way through this tournament tentatively. Nogueira opened as a -215 favorite (bet $215 to win $100) according to the Bellator 70 odds while Nakamura is a +175 underdog (bet $100 to win $175). A year ago, Brent Weedman and Rick Hawn were both fighting for the right to face Ben Askren in the Bellator Welterweight Tournament. Now these two have each dropped 15 pounds, and they are set to meet in the finals of the Season Six Lightweight Tournament. As we are reminded with every article and every broadcast, Hawn (13-1) is an Olympic Judoka, but he hasn’t been using his grappling to tear through the 155-pounders thus far – it’s been his fists. His opponent Weedman (20-7-1) brings his down-home charm and infectious smile to the cage, replete with a good attitude and a love for his family to power him into a fight with Bellator champ Michael Chandler. Regardless of how they got here, Weedman and Hawn should put on quite a fight. Hawn opened as a solid -345 favorite against Weedman (+275) according to the MMA odds. Finally, to cap off the night, Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad (8-0) will defend his title for the first time since winning it in October of 2010 against the strange circumstantial winner of the Season Five Heavyweight Tournament, Eric Prindle (7-1). While Prindle seems to have anvils for fists, Cole’s claimed improvement in his stand up game probably won’t be tested in his first title defense. The tried and true Konrad has a grinding, out-smothering style that will likely be ordered up like an extra large pizza with all the toppings, something he literally ordered for himself in Milwaukee after his semifinal win a few years ago. Konrad opened as a monster -1200 favorite against Prindle (+650), and neither of them are among the Top 15 heavyweights in the MMAOB MMA Fighter Rankings.
